The Kalamazoo County Sheriff's Office in conjunction with the Western Michigan University Public Safety Department are announcing the arrest of three persons in connection with a series of armed robberies that occurred on December 6th on the campus of WMU and at the 7-11 on W. KL Ave west of the campus. The suspects are:

Ryan Donnell Hattaway 20 yrs ol

Jocelyn LaShawn Walker 18 yrs old

Antoine Bernard Cantrell 19 yrs old

All are college students; Walker attends WMU and the other two attend KVCC. They all currently reside in Kalamazoo while students but are originally from the east side of the state. All were charged with three counts of armed robbery in connection with the incidents. They were arraigned this afternoon with Walker being held on a $5,000 bond, while Hattaway and Cantrell were handed $150,000 bonds each.

The suspects were identified after they were arrested and charged with Larceny from a Person in connection with a purse snatching incident at a store on S. 9th St in Oshtemo Township on December 10th. In that incident, a purse was forcefully stolen, and the suspects fled in a vehicle. Shortly thereafter, they crashed their vehicle and fled on foot but were apprehended.

Deputies noted the similarity of the suspects to the description of the suspects involved in the earlier armed robberies. Detectives from the Sheriff's Office and Western Michigan University Public Safety interviewed the suspects and they admitted to their involvement with the armed robberies.

Investigators are continuing to look at these suspects for other similar crimes in the area.

Sheriff Richard Fuller and Western Michigan University officals are thankful the culprits have been apprehended and advise that the police agencies continue their efforts to keep the WMU area a safe and secure environment.